Ramallah
- Palestinian passengers will be more tempted to read books after a new
reading campaign is launched next week. A group of young writers are
gathering books to put in mini-vans linking major cities in the West Bank, routes that can waste hours.

Wiam
Karyouti, a sales employee and a young writer, first thought of the
campaign when a passenger next to him asked him if he had another book
for him to read. “I usually read in the taxi and carry books with me. I
handed him a novel and he gave it back to me at the end of the ride
saying he would go buy it,” Karyouti told The Media Line.

The
incident triggered Karyouti to think of ways to encourage reading and
use the spare taxi time only to find that taxi drivers welcomed the
initiative of putting books in their orange-painted service cars, which
take up to seven passengers.

Karyouti
and his colleagues at a young writers club called “Bastet Ibda"
(Creativity Peddlers) volunteered to make their idea come true and
advertised for the campaign through their Facebook pages.

Since
their announcement on December 26, they have received 600 books donated
by NGOs, publishing houses, intellectuals and individuals who came to
the collecting points in different West Bank cities.

After
the collecting ends this week, seven or eight will be available in a
cloth bag near each driver in 311 taxis for passengers to read. “The
topics range from religion, science history and arts, to novels and
children books, because we think that parents might travel with their
kids,” Karyouti added.

“We
still need another 600 books, but we won’t distribute all of them at
once. We plan to periodically renew new books in taxis," Karyouti
explained.

Intellectuals
and young writers agree that reading is not very popular among
Palestinians and think the education system and lack of government
support has a role in pushing people away from reading.

“I
see the same groups of people in book readings,” says Karyouti, who
hopes that when he publishes his first poetry book, he will rely on
friends to encourage their connections to read it.

Abd
El Salam Khaddash, the Reading Campaigns Manager at Tamer Community
Education Institute, told The Media Line the Palestinian curriculum
doesn’t make students thirsty for knowledge and learning.

Khaddash added that the curriculum depends on memorizing books by heart, and doesn’t encourage creative thinking.

Tamer
championed reading campaigns for the past 20 years focusing on a
different topic each year. Last year, their “Father: read for me”
campaign events included distributing children books in the dentists’
waiting rooms.

Although
Ramallah’s public library, not far from the city center, has more than
40,000 books in different topics and languages, it only served around
7,000 visitors of the city’s 30,000 inhabitants during 2012. Around
300,000 people live within the borders of the governorate of Ramallah
and Al Bireh and neighboring villages.

“A
few visitors come for the sake of reading, but we have housewives,
workers and retired people who come to read for fun. Students visit
because they are required to study and read for their research papers,”
library supervisor Ruba Husseini told The Media Line.

In
2012, around 1,000 books were loaned to the library’s subscribers who
pay a yearly fee that doesn’t exceed $10. Using the library is free of
charge unless photocopying is needed.

Khaddash
thinks that reading has become less of a priority these days. “I was a
student in the eighties and people were eager to know what would happen
next with their lives, especially politically,” he said.

Tamer works with 75 libraries in the West Bank
and the Gaza Strip and around 50 public schools libraries to encourage
reading. “We think that the librarians can play a part in encouraging
learning and education but their salaries are too low and some work as
volunteers,” Khaddash said.

He
added that there is a problem with both libraries. Some community
libraries are the first facilities to be affected when the local
municipalities face financial difficulties. Also, the absence of
specific reading classes in many schools or using this class for exams
studying makes school libraries less useful to students.

Hala Kaileh, the manager of a libraries enhancement project in the Ramallah Municipality,
told The Media Line that the municipality is working to develop reading
in the Palestinian society. The municipality set up a new children's
library to help make reading a habit for children. “Content of books is
important but the library looking good is important to attract visitors,
and we’re working on developing the children's library and including a
film room as well,” Kaileh said.

Karyouti
is not worried if people decide to borrow or keep the books they read
in the taxis for themselves. “If I win a reader, I wouldn’t mind losing a
book,” he cheerfully told The Media Line.

Khaddash told The Media Line
he is optimistic. “I interview hundreds of people for jobs, and I care
less for their university marks. Now parents care more for their
children to be educated rather than being at the top of their class,” he
said.

Khaddash
added that it’s not important that readers increase by a thousand, but
rather to broaden the idea into the importance of education and reading
in life.

Friday, January 18, 2013

As your second term is to begin soon, people are hoping your second
inaugural address will help steer this nation in more positive and
productive directions.

Personally I hope that you will clearly and firmly voice support for a
just and lasting peace in the Middle East, for I am quite convinced that
ending the Israel-Palestine conflict will have positive ramifications
world wide.

While your wife is shopping for an enchanting inauguration ball gown to
wear to help visually convey the dignity of your office as well as
reflect her own personal beauty, Palestinians are also using fabric to
reflect the dignity of Palestine's struggle for peace and justice.

On Wednesday, Israeli forces tore
down the tented village Bab al-Shams (Gate of the Sun), set up to protest Israel's plans
to build the "E1" settlement on Palestinian land.

But the story continues- as it has for over sixty years- as another tent village for Palestine has appeared, northwest of Jerusalem, a tent village named al-Karamah (Dignity).

A fully secular two state solution to once and for ALL end the
Israel-Palestine conflict must be based on full respect for
international law and basic human rights, including but not limited to
the Palestinian refugees right to return to original homes and lands as
promised by the international community in 1948 when Israel achieved
statehood.

DIPLOMACY IN ACTION The United States Office of International Religious Freedom has the mission of
promoting religious freedom as a core objective of U.S. foreign policy:"Promote freedom of religion and conscience throughout the world as a
fundamental human right and as a source of stability for all countries" http://www.state.gov/j/drl/irf/

I think it is obvious that people should not have their homes destroyed
and their land usurped and their freedom curbed and their ability to
work sabotaged and their basic human rights denied because they have
been deemed the "wrong religion" by Israel.... American tax payers
should not be forced to help fund
Israel's investments in Jewish 'housing', in both Israel proper as well
as in the illegally occupied territories.

JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Palestinian activists on Friday established a new
tented protest village northwest of Jerusalem, the second such
initiative against Israeli settlement building in as many weeks.

Activists set up three tents and a small building in the area near Beit Iksa, naming the village al-Karamah (Dignity).

Locals said around 400 Palestinians performed Friday prayers in the open area.

Saed
Yakrina, an activist from nearby village Beit Liza, said the camp was
"a message to Israel and all democratic societies that we are human, and
we want peace."

Activists from across the political spectrum,
mainly from nearby villages, have gathered and will sleep in the tents
overnight, he told Ma'an.

Beit Iksa, surrounded by Israeli
settlements, is set to be entirely encircled by Israel's separation
wall, cutting it off from Jerusalem.

Israeli authorities ordered
the confiscation of 500 dunams of the village's land three weeks ago,
and do not permit any new building in the town, Yakrina said, noting
that Israeli settlements were still expanding.

"We are looking for a life without checkpoints, walls and settlements," he said.

Israeli
forces immediately shut down the military checkpoint at the entrance to
Beit Iksa to prevent more activists and supporters from accessing the
protest site, witnesses said.

On Wednesday, Israeli forces tore
down the tented village Bab al-Shams, set up to protest Israel's plans
to build the "E1" settlement on the land, severing the West Bank from
Jerusalem.

Palestinian lawmaker Mustafa Barghouthi on Friday said
Bab al-Shams and al-Karama were a new dimension in the Palestinian
struggle and that more protest villages would be established.

"The
spirit of popular resistance which Bab al-Shams disseminated is being
strengthened today in other areas including Izbat al-Tabib and Beit
Iksa," the secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative said
in a statement.

A rally was held in Izbat al-Tabib in the
Qalqiliya district of the northern West Bank on Friday to protest
Israeli plans to demolish a school in the village.

The rally showed that popular resistance against Israel's occupation is spreading, Barghouthi said.

Statement on Killing of Palestinian Youth

January 15, 2013 ·

The General Delegation of the PLO to the US condemns in the strongest terms the killing of 17 years-old Samir Ahmad Abdul-Rahim of Budrus village.

It has become habit for the Israeli government to escalate violence
against innocent Palestinians to sustain a perpetual status quo that
denies Palestinian rights, defiantly violating previous agreements,
international law, and human rights.

Particularly appalling is that in spite of Palestinian commitment to
nonviolent struggle, especially in the case of Budrus village, Israeli
harassment and violations remain unabated.

The murder of Abdul-Rahim comes only five days following that of 22
years-old Anwar al-Mamlouk of Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza,
clearly highlighting an Israeli pattern of provocation determined to
undermine Palestinian rights to self-determination and independence.

The General Delegation of the PLO to the US urges the United States to unequivocally condemn Israeli violations against innocent Palestinians.

Learn more about the birthplace of Jesus Christ, click here.PLO Delegation

Israeli border policemen guard the Bab al-Shams (Gate of the
Sun) 'outpost' after evicting Palestinian protesters from the site on
January 13, 2013 in the controversial West Bank area known as E1
situated between Jerusalem and the Israeli West Bank settlement of of
Maaleh Adumim. (Uriel Sinai, Getty Images)

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon is reiterating his call for Israel to
rescind its settlement plans in the strategic E1 area of the West Bank.

Bulldozers
arrived in the Sur Bahir neighborhood in southern Jerusalem and
demolished the home of Aref Hussein Amireh, witnesses said.

The property housed 14 people from two families.

Israeli
bulldozers also demolished the home of Nasser al-Rajabi in an area
north of Beit Hanina. Al-Rajabi told Ma'an that Israeli forces arrived
at 6 a.m. and removed all the furniture from the house before destroying
it.

He received no prior notice before the demolition of the home, which housed a family of eight, he added.

There
is no electricity here and the nearby Palestinian villages are
enveloped in darkness. The only visible cluster of light is from a
nearby Israeli settlement.

Humanitarian agencies are well aware
of the needs in this part of the West Bank but they face a challenge:
play by the rules established by Israel or face the risk of having
projects demolished.

Despite being outside the state of Israel,
90 percent of the Jordan Valley is under full Israeli civil and military
control as part of Area C, a zone that covers 60 percent of the West
Bank.

Palestinian communities here, among the poorest and most
vulnerable in oPt, desperately need access to water, electricity,
sanitation and other basic infrastructure.

But despite the needs,
development organizations that try to improve living conditions in Area
C say they find their ability to make any lasting impact hampered by
Israeli restrictions and bureaucracy.

Like Palestinians,
organizations that want to build basic service infrastructure such as
houses, schools or water systems are required to submit an application
for a permit to the Israeli authorities.

Often, these permits are
not granted. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs, between January 2000 and September 2007, over 94
percent of applications submitted by Palestinians to the Israeli
authorities for building permits in Area C were denied.

"The
permit regime is very confusing. There is no clarity about the status of
an application, whether paperwork has been received, if it is
complete," Willow Heske, media lead for Oxfam in oPt, told IRIN.
"Agencies have sometimes waited for two years only to get a rejection
that comes without any explanation."

"A few years ago we put in
plans to build a water reservoir in Al-Jiftlik, to provide half of
Al-Jiftlik with running water," said Heske.

"The reservoir was
considered a `building' and we didn't get the permit. So we moved to a
plan B which still involved setting up a reservoir and piping system but
above rather than below ground. This too was not accepted. So as a last
resort we had to go back to distributing water tanks. And of course
people were frustrated and disappointed."

Roger Cohen claims there is no history of return- he is totally
wrong: Recognizing the vital importance of every refugees' right to
return and reparations has been an important part of the world's
response to rebuilding civilization after the Nazi Holocaust.

The right to return is a universal basic human right, affirmed time
and time again by international law and anyone who is sincerely
concerned about creating a just and lasting peace.

UN Resolution 194 from 1948 : The refugees wishing to
return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours
should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date,
and that compensation should be paid for the property of those
choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property
which, under principles of international law or in equity,
should be made good by the Governments or authorities
responsible

Religion and/or race should not ever be what determines who is safe
in their home, and able to find a job. A fully secular two state
solution to once and for ALL end the Israel-Palestine conflict for
everyone's sake really is the best way forward.

".... it being clearly understood that nothing
shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious
rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine..."

The
Golden Rule... Do unto others as you would have them
do unto you

"Where, after all, do
universal human rights begin? In small places, close to
home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on
any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the
individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the
school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or
office where he works. Such are the places where every
man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal
opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination.
Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little
meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to
uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for
progress in the larger world."
Eleanor Roosevelt

Palestinian
refugees must be given the option to exercise their
right of return (as well as receive compensation for
their losses arising from their dispossession and
displacement) though refugees may prefer other options
such as: (i) resettlement in third countries, (ii)
resettlement in a newly independent Palestine (even
though they originate from that part of Palestine which
became Israel) or (iii) normalization of their legal
status in the host country where they currently reside.
What is important is that individual refugees decide for
themselves which option they prefer – a decision must
not be imposed upon them.

"Ahmad Tibi, a member of Parliament since 1999, said his United Arab List
had joined with its two rivals, Hadash and Balad, in Facebook campaigns
and election day efforts aimed at persuading voters to go to the polls,
noting that in Israel’s coalition system, staying home bolsters the
largest faction, in this case Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s
conservative Likud Beiteinu.

“In South Africa, people were killed struggling to have one person, one
vote,” Mr. Tibi said in an interview on Wednesday. “In Israel, there is
discrimination in every part of life — education, infrastructure,
employment. In only one thing there is equal rights: the day of the
election. One person, one vote, Jews and Arabs. Those who are not
participating are shooting their own legs.”"

Generally, young architects take to
modernisation of building designs like fish to water. However, in the
West Bank of Palestine, a group of architects — most of whom have
international postgraduate degrees and could easily have found lucrative
careers abroad — has returned home to preserve architectural heritage
of the holy land, a heritage that is either being deliberately destroyed
by the Israelis or being neglected by Palestinians. For the former,
cultural heritage has become a battleground to stake a claim to the land
— a war in which they have the ascendency — and for the latter, the
upkeep of historically important sites and buildings is a luxury they
cannot afford.

Riwaq, a Palestinian
non-profit organisation established in 1991 in Ramallah, provides these
passionate young architects with a platform to use their talents to
preserve the heritage.

It took Riwaq 13 years to
prepare a record of historical buildings in Palestine, before moving on
to rehabilitation and development of the architectural heritage. This
involved restoring the remains of the many civilisations that existed
here. The various strata, with their different styles, make up the
complex identity of Palestine, and Riwaq is committed to not only
protecting structures built by the nobility and religious sites but also
the valuable and varied urban, peasant and nomad architecture. To do
this successfully it faces the challenge of convincing the public and
the decision makers that historical buildings and centres are important
tools for development, not liabilities.

Riwaq has been the recipient
of many notable awards — the Dubai International Award for Best
Practices, in 2007, and the Curry Stone Design Prize, in November 2012.
Their offices are fittingly housed in an old building in Ramallah, where
I meet a youthful, fun-loving and energetic team to learn more about
their motivation for being there and the amazing work they do, which may
even be viewed as a non-violent form of resistance against Israeli
occupation.

Lana Judeh, whose youthful
looks belie her talents, is presently heading a project that is
rehabilitating a historical site in the north of Ramallah. She obtained
her masters degree in London, in architecture and cultural identity, and
when asked why she chose Riwaq instead of the private sector, she
replies, “This place provides an opportunity for me to work and develop
in a way I can’t elsewhere. I have learnt the geography of Palestine,
which is very unique, but most of all, that to design new things you
need to understand the old so you can build on it. Also this is a highly
qualified team, and the intellectual discourse here is hard for me to
find elsewhere.”

Judeh’s project is the
“Abwein Historic Centre” from the Ottoman period, famous for its “Throne
Village Palace” where rulers collected taxes from peasants. To begin
with, Riwaq implemented preventive conservation of the palace a few
years ago, restoring it from the outside to protect it from any further
deterioration.

“We are
trying to bring life back to abandoned areas that are either run-down or
in ruins,” Judeh says. “Our restoration work has many aspects to it,
beginning with a core building and then extending it to the whole
neighbourhood. The involvement of locals in cleaning and beautifying
their public space brings back their focus on the centre of the old town
from which they have moved away and where they only visit the mosque or
attend funerals.”

This particular site lay
abandoned for 30 years. “It is frustrating at the beginning, especially
as an outsider, because heritage is not a priority for the local
communities,” Judeh says. “Two years later, we see how it pays off, as
the quality of life has changed, with children playing in clean
courtyards, free of the garbage that used to be dumped there, and a
local women’s organisation will use the restored building.”

Judeh says Riwaq has two
options: “Either we renovate for public use, where a local organisation
rents the building from the original owner for 15 years. In that case,
the owner pays nothing and gets his building back, restored, after 15
years. Or in the case of Abwein, if the owner wants to restore his
building for private use, we ask for a contribution — for example,
providing the owner with building materials — and he completes the
restoration under Riwaq’s supervision.”

In other instances, Riwaq
provides owners with material and they complete the restoration
themselves. In essence, Riwaq works in partnership with the owners and
does not impose its will on them.

Michel Salameh is another
young architect with Riwaq. “I work here because it is a place where I
feel I am doing something special for my community by protecting the
heritage of Palestine,” he says.

Salameh is heading the “Adh
Dhariyeh” project, in the south of Hebron, where he began with
single-building restoration and has progressed to a community centre and
two schools. He explains, “This used to be a Roman fort and people in
the village lived in a network of caves under the buildings, and each
country that invaded the holy land used Dhariyeh as a protective fort
against enemies approaching from the south.

“Dhariyeh is one of 50
historical sites whose renovation Riwaq has undertaken and which
constitute 50 per cent of the architectural heritage of Palestine.”
Salameh says. “There are almost 900 old buildings and the project is
funded by the Arab Fund in Kuwait.

Riwaq’s goal is to breathe
life back into 50 per cent of Palestine’s heritage buildings and the
communities in and around them, and to secure and reinforce the
Palestinian identity that their architecture embodies...READ MORE

Thank you for publishing the "What Palestinians Need" letter by
Nadia Hijab. I totally agree that Palestinians "
need American political clout to end the occupation as the
first step to a just and lasting peace. "... but I think
for now at least Palestinians also need more financial aid in
addition to political support.

Both Israel and Islamists have been taking advantage of the very
real plight of the Palestinians, exasperating tragedy and extremism
at every turn. That dangerous trend won't magically stop if funding
for Palestine is cut or decreased.

Palestinian Statehood efforts as well as UNWRA have been generously
funded by the United States. Arab states should step up to help too,
in hopes of helping Palestinians- and Palestine survive.

".... it being clearly understood that nothing
shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious
rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine..."

The
Golden Rule... Do unto others as you would have them
do unto you

"Where, after all, do
universal human rights begin? In small places, close to
home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on
any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the
individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the
school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or
office where he works. Such are the places where every
man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal
opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination.
Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little
meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to
uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for
progress in the larger world."
Eleanor Roosevelt

Palestinian
refugees must be given the option to exercise their
right of return (as well as receive compensation for
their losses arising from their dispossession and
displacement) though refugees may prefer other options
such as: (i) resettlement in third countries, (ii)
resettlement in a newly independent Palestine (even
though they originate from that part of Palestine which
became Israel) or (iii) normalization of their legal
status in the host country where they currently reside.
What is important is that individual refugees decide for
themselves which option they prefer – a decision must
not be imposed upon them.

Monday, January 14, 2013

Oudeh Basharat: "Until our brothers in the territories join in, when they are finally
annexed to us, we must conclude regrettably that the Arab population is
not behaving like a subversive sect and that all signs indicate that
they are like every other human being: sometimes depressed, sometimes in
love and sometimes refusing to exercise their right to vote.

For this reason I would like to whisper to that human being that if, whether out of
despair or political principle, he does not vote, then he should not
expect Benjamin Netanyahu and Avigdor Lieberman to declare a national
day of mourning on their account.

My election-boycotting friends, the situation could be worse. And we
should replace the question of what contribution was made by the Arab
members of Knesset with a more appropriate one: What would the situation
be without them? If the preceding generations had not exploited every
crack in the wall of discrimination, even the very roofs above our heads
would have been denied us. Building even a single room would have been
an existential struggle. It was only through stubborn fighting that the
Arabs have racked up impressive accomplishments"

Last week President Mahmoud Abbas ordered all official documents to be
signed and sealed with the emblem of the State of Palestine, replacing
that of the Palestinian Authority. The move, of course, comes after the
Palestinians scored the upgraded status of non-member state at the
United Nations in November with the backing of 138 countries. This was a
major morale boost for Palestinians, who have long struggled to gain
international recognition of their right to statehood, freedom and
independence. The UN upgrade is a small step towards that goal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, obviously irked by the UN
upgrade of Palestine to a ‘state’, also chimed in on the president’s
decree, claiming it was a ‘serious violation of signed agreements.’
Netanyahu added that Abbas’ decision was "devoid of any political
meaning and creates no practical impact on the ground", saying that, "A
Palestinian state will only be created as part of a peace agreement with
Israel".

While Netanyahu may be right in terms of “practical impact on the
ground” there is also a reason why he made the effort to respond. He
understands that symbols of sovereignty begin as symbols but eventually
turn into reality with the right will power and determination. That is
also the reason why he so quickly and so viciously evicted the
determined residents of the Bab Al Shams village, erected in the
so-called E1 area, slated for massive Israeli settlement construction.
Even Israel’s High Court said the tents could remain for a few days
until a ‘solution’ was found. But Netanyahu is well aware of the danger
of allowing Palestinian activists to remain and multiply on land that is
rightfully their people’s, gaining momentum and solidarity with each
hour that passes by. And so, he cracked his whip, calling on his
thuggish army and police to drag them out.

The official documents and passports to soon be emblazoned with the
‘State of Palestine’ may be a sight for sore eyes for Palestinians who
yearn for an independent homeland, but both Netanyahu and the
Palestinians know it does not mean the actual state of Palestine is
anywhere closer. While Netanyahu said a state could only be realized
“through an agreement with Israel”, Palestinians are beginning to
believe this will never happen, and thus have begun to devise more
creative ways of reaching their dream. Moves such as the UN resolution –
the price for which the Palestinians continue to pay – and popular
resistance activities such as the Bab Al Shams initiative, are all
alternative means the Palestinians have found to make their presence and
their national rights known.

They are on the right track, for sure. All great ideas start with a
single thought and people like Benjamin Netanyahu are more than privy to
the fact that as thoughts hatch and grow, they snowball into action and
determination after which nothing can stop them.

The trick is for the Palestinians to keep this act of symbolism -- the
State of Palestine seal – in perspective. We Palestinians fell into the
trap of believing more than what was real many years ago when the Oslo
Accords were signed. This is not the space to point fingers at the
parties to blame for this delusion (and they are more than a few), but
rather to learn from our mistakes. The ‘State of Palestine’ emblem just
may be the spark that ignites a much bigger process towards independence
just like the Bab Al Shams village may have sparked the beginning of a
wide-scale popular resistance movement. That is the hope at least. And
obviously, from the way he and his government reacted, it is the Israeli
Prime Minister’s biggest fear.

Joharah Baker is a Writer for the Media and Information
Department at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global
Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mid@miftah.org.

World War II with all it many horrors inspired world leaders to
carefully think about and endorse a carefully worded Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. If newly founded Israel had used
respect for basic human rights as its guidepost things would be very
very different in the Middle East today, with positive ramifications
for everyone- regardless of supposed race or religion.

The very real plight and suffering of the persecuted, impoverished
and displaced native non-Jewish Palestinians is a crisis that has
been growing worse not for merely months or years, but for decades.
And yet the besieged and oppressed Palestinians persist in believing
in peace and justice.... Bravo to all the valiant and noble
Palestinians who dreamed up the Bab Al-Shams village, and then set
about creating a real village of tents on Palestinian land in hopes
of stopping Israel from investing in and building yet another
Jews-only housing project.

& Bravo to the American newspapers, including the CSM, who
noticed and published some news of this telling incident. Even if
the tents and Palestinian flags are torn down by Israeli forces the
world has a plethora of photos and stories- just as the world has a
plethora of photos as well as many facts and stories about the
hundreds of Palestinian villages destroyed by Israel through out the
years.

".... it being clearly understood that nothing
shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious
rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine..."

The Golden
Rule... Do unto others as you would have them do unto you

"Where, after all, do
universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home -
so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of
the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person;
the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he
attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are
the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal
justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without
discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they
have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action
to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for
progress in the larger world."
Eleanor Roosevelt

Palestinian refugees must be given the
option to exercise their right of return (as well as receive
compensation for their losses arising from their dispossession
and displacement) though refugees may prefer other options
such as: (i) resettlement in third countries, (ii)
resettlement in a newly independent Palestine (even though
they originate from that part of Palestine which became
Israel) or (iii) normalization of their legal status in the
host country where they currently reside. What is important
is that individual refugees decide for themselves which option
they prefer – a decision must not be imposed upon them.

Sunday, January 13, 2013

I
won't say I wish I were with you, I am with you. I see you, and I see
how the dream through your hands has turned into reality rooted in
the earth. "On this earth is what makes life worth living",
just as Mahmoud Darwish wrote, for when you built your wonderful
village you gave back meaning to meaning. You became the sons of this
land and its masters.

This
is the Palestine that Younis dreamt of in the novel Bab Al Shams/Gate
of the Sun. Younis had a dream made of words, and the words
became wounds bleeding over the land. You became, people of Bab Al
Shams, the words that carry the dream of freedom and return Palestine
to Palestine.

I
see in your village all the faces of the loved ones who departed on
the way to the land of our Palestinian promise. Palestine is the
promise of the strangers who were expelled from their land and
continue to be expelled everyday from their homes.

Strangers
and yet you are the sons of the land, its olives and oil!

You
are the olives of Palestine that shine under the sun of justice, and
as you build your village the light of freedom flares up with you.

"Light
upon light"

I
see in your eyes a nation born from the rubble of the nakba that has
gone on for sixty-four years.

I see you and
in my heart the words grow, I see the words and you grow in my heart,
rise high and burst into the sky.

Finally,
I only have the wish that you accept me as a citizen of your
village, that I may learn from you the meanings of freedom and
justice.

Thank you for having the courage to cover the story of Bab
al-Shams, the tent village Palestinians constructed on Palestinian
owned land, created in hopes of preventing Israel from building yet
another state subsidized Jews-only housing project.

This situation is crazy and cruel- and quite frankly a crime against
humanity. The temporary tent village of Bab al-Shams is a telling echo
of the hundreds of Palestinian villages and cities that have been ethnically
cleansed, looted, and destroyed by the Israel through out the years.

In 1976 Americans were celebrating our
freedom and a more real democracy with a cherished Bicentennial. The official Bicentennial events began on April 1, 1975, when the American Freedom Train began touring the country with "over
500 precious treasures of Americana. Included in these diverse
artifacts were George Washington's copy of the Constitution, the
original Louisiana Purchase, Judy Garland's dress from The Wizard of Oz, Joe Frazier's boxing trunks, Martin Luther King's pulpit and robes, and even a rock from the moon."

In sharp contrast in 1976 six Palestinian farmers were killed
and hundreds were wounded and/or arrested because they organized nonviolent protests and marches objecting to the
Israeli government's announcement of a plan to expropriate thousands of
dunams of land for "security and settlement purposes" LAND DAY commemorates that tragedy which continues to this day.

".... it being clearly understood that nothing
shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious
rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine..."

The Golden
Rule... Do unto others as you would have them do unto you

"Where, after all, do
universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home -
so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of
the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person;
the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he
attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are
the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal
justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without
discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they
have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action
to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for
progress in the larger world."
Eleanor Roosevelt

Palestinian refugees must be given the option to exercise
their right of return (as well as receive compensation for
their losses arising from their dispossession and
displacement) though refugees may prefer other options such
as: (i) resettlement in third countries, (ii) resettlement in
a newly independent Palestine (even though they originate from
that part of Palestine which became Israel) or (iii)
normalization of their legal status in the host country where
they currently reside. What is important is that individual
refugees decide for themselves which option they prefer – a
decision must not be imposed upon them.

The encampment, which the protesters called the village of Bab al-Shams
(Arabic for “Gate of the Sun”), represented a new kind of action by
Palestinian grass-roots activists involved in what they describe as the
nonviolent popular struggle against the Israeli occupation.

Employing a tactic more commonly used by Jewish settlers who establish
wildcat outposts in the West Bank, the protesters had pitched their
tents on Friday on what they said was privately owned land, and with the
permission of the Palestinian landowners. They were immediately served
eviction notices by the Israeli military authorities, but their lawyers
had obtained a temporary injunction against their removal from the High
Court of Justice until the state detailed the grounds for such a move.

But on Saturday evening, with the end of the Sabbath, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement saying he had ordered security forces to evacuate “forthwith” the Palestinians...READ MORE